Midnight in Nagnayak was usually a time of vibrant celebration. Once again, the Flowers of Dreams bloomed, releasing the luminous souls of sleeping humans into the sky. The city was bathed in a holy, flickering glow.

  But tonight, Prince Lavinia, or rather, the boy known as Mizi, remained deep in sleep.

  The Empress of Desire stood by his bedside, her hand hovering over his brow. She tried to rouse him, but the exhaustion radiating from his body was absolute. She might have left it there, chalked it up to the battle, and gone about her evening. But something made her linger.

  On the small table beside his bed sat a folded piece of cloth. She recognised it as part of a guard's uniform, torn and carefully re-stitched by unpracticed hands. Beside it was a list, written in Mizi's uneven script, of every merchant stall in the lower district and what each one needed replenished before the festival. He had made it that morning. Before anyone had asked him to.

  She stepped out into the corridor and found one of the younger palace angels sitting cross-legged against the wall, waiting. The girl looked up with red-rimmed eyes.

  "You've been crying," the Empress said.

  The angel shook her head quickly. "No, my lady. I just..." She stopped, then tried again. "This afternoon, I dropped all the ceremonial lanterns. Every single one. I thought I was going to be dismissed." She pulled her knees closer. "Prince Lavinia found me on the floor picking up the pieces. He sat down and helped me. He didn't say anything grand. He just picked up lanterns and talked to me like I was a person. Like it didn't matter that I had failed."

  The Empress said nothing.

  "He told me," the angel continued softly, "that the only real failure is leaving someone to carry something heavy alone."

  The Empress returned to the bedside. She reached out with her divine senses, and the truth settled over her like cold water. The soul within this body was not her biological son. It was an entity from another world entirely, a guest inhabiting the shell of a prince.

  She looked at his face for a long time. The bruises from the fight. The calluses already forming on his sword hand after only days of training. The small cut on his palm that he had bandaged himself rather than bother the healers with.

  Whoever this Mizi was, he had fought for her city without being asked, bled for people whose names he didn't know, and spent every quiet hour between battles making himself useful in ways that left no room for pride or performance.

  She let him sleep.

  The Reddening of Alesten

  The Empress found Alesten near the palace gardens, watching the soul-lights drift.

  "He is exhausted," the Empress noted softly. "Why has he pushed himself so far?"

  Alesten turned, a tired but proud smile on her face. "From dawn until noon, Mizi has been helping everyone. He carries goods for the merchants, polishes weapons for the guards, and arranges the venues for the festival. He does it all without being asked. He says that everyone must help each other so the bonds between us never break."

  She paused, her eyes shining. "There was an old man in the eastern market today. He had been trying to move a cart of cloud-stones for an hour and everyone walked past him. Mizi stopped mid-conversation with one of the generals and went to help. Just like that. No announcement. He stayed until the job was finished, then came back and apologised to the general for the interruption as though he was the one who had been inconvenient."

  The Empress smiled quietly.

  "And in the evenings," Alesten continued, "he takes up his sword and trains until he can barely stand. He says he doesn't want anyone to have to protect him again the way the Angel did at the gate. He hasn't stopped thinking about her since." She folded her hands in her lap. "His dedication is unlike anything I've ever seen."

  The Empress laughed, warm and melodic. "My son has truly changed. Do not wait too long, Alesten. One day, you will be together. Not as friends, but as husband and wife."

  Alesten's face turned a vivid crimson, and the Empress's laughter echoed through the garden, until the air turned cold.

  The Shadow Incursion

  A swarm of Evil Spirits, jagged and translucent, descended upon the city. They were hunters of light, and their primary target was Alesten. As they lunged, a shimmering barrier flared to life.

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  "By my voice, I command you!" the Empress shouted, her power rippling through the air. "Stay away, foul spirits!"

  The barrier held, but the spirits were relentless. They swerved, diving toward the common citizens. The City Guards intercepted them, swinging silvered halberds and swords, but the weapons passed harmlessly through the spirits' ethereal bodies. The guards were helpless as the spirits began to drain the life from the screaming residents.

  "Mizi!" Alesten cried out.

  Mizi appeared, breathless and wide-eyed. He swung his sword at a passing spirit, but it felt like cutting smoke. "They're like pontianaks!" he gasped, using a word from his old life.

  He rushed to stand between the spirits and the drifting human souls, surprised to see that the spirits avoided the souls entirely.

  "The human soul is holy light, Mizi!" the Empress called out. "Evil spirits burn at its touch! The barrier I made is fueled by that same light, the light within the soul!"

  Mizi looked at his green-glowing shield. If I have a soul, I have light. "Please!" he gritted his teeth, pointing his shield at the swarm. "Give me the light again!"

  But the light did not come. The spirits sensed his fear and swarmed him, their cold claws tearing at his spirit. He was forced to retreat, stumbling back until a spirit cornered him.

  Suddenly, an umbrella blocked the spirit's path. Alesten stood over him, her eyes burning with a new ferocity. "For the sake of protecting my beloved," she whispered, "my anger turns to light!"

  She spun her umbrella, and a blinding flash erupted, incinerating the spirit instantly. Inspired, Mizi stood up. He pushed aside his fear, replacing it with the same protective rage. "My turn!"

  He thrust his shield forward. A beam of concentrated holy energy shot out, turning the spirits to ash. Together, Alesten and Mizi moved through the city like a twin star, purging the darkness, aided by the human souls that began to chase the spirits away.

  The Return of the Rival

  Victory was seconds away when a massive shadow slammed into Mizi, throwing him across the cobblestones.

  A figure descended from the clouds, wreathed in dark smoke. "Do not think you've won, Lavinia! I will burn this city to the ground!"

  Ming Feng had arrived. Behind him, a portal opened, vomiting out a fresh army of Orcs and Gargoyles. He landed, his eyes narrowing as he looked at Mizi. "Wait. You aren't Lavinia. Who are you? What is your name?"

  Mizi pushed himself up, blood trickling down his chin. "Mizi. My name is Mizi. I don't know why I'm here, but I know you're a monster."

  Ming Feng threw back his head and laughed. "Mizi? A commoner? You dare touch Alesten? I am the only one worthy of her!"

  "No!" Alesten shouted, her voice trembling with loathing. "I will never be yours! You are evil! You aren't the Ming Feng I knew! Go away!"

  Fury twisted Ming Feng's features. "How dare you! ATTACK!"

  The Emperor of Deity arrived then, clad in golden armor. "Go, my son!" he roared, leading the charge of angels and guards against the orcs. "Defeat Ming Feng! I will handle the rest!"

  The Final Sacrifice

  The Empress granted Mizi the power of flight. He soared into the air, meeting Ming Feng in a clash of steel and magic. But Mizi was a novice; Ming Feng was a prince of darkness. Each exchange ended with Mizi being knocked back, his body bruised and breaking.

  "You are weak!" Ming Feng sneered, parrying Mizi's light attack with a wave of absolute shadow. "How can they love a nothing like you?"

  "I might be weak," Mizi wheezed, flying back in for another strike. "But I'm not a coward like you!"

  Mizi landed a solid punch on Ming Feng's jaw, but the dark prince countered with a brutal kick. Snarling, Ming Feng ordered a swarm of Gargoyles to overwhelm Mizi. As Mizi struggled to fend them off, Ming Feng gathered a massive sphere of dark energy.

  He fired.

  Mizi was pinned by the Gargoyles, unable to move. But the blast didn't hit him.

  Alesten had thrown herself in the way.

  "No!" Mizi screamed.

  She fell like a broken bird, landing softly on the clouds below. Mizi's world turned white. A primal scream tore from his throat, shaking the very foundations of Nagnayak. His eyes glowed with an impossible, blinding brilliance.

  He aimed both of his shield-gauntlets at Ming Feng. "ALESTEN!"

  An X-shaped blast of pure, incandescent light roared forth. Ming Feng met it with his own darkness, and the collision sent shockwaves through the Dream Realm. But Mizi didn't stop. He poured every ounce of his regret, his love, and his soul into the beam. The light shattered the darkness, striking Ming Feng squarely and blasting him out of the city's atmosphere.

  The army of Apocrypha, seeing their leader defeated, fled back into the void.

  The Circle Closes

  Mizi knelt beside Alesten, sobbing as he cradled her head. Her breathing was shallow.

  "Mizi..." she whispered, a faint smile on her lips. "Take care of yourself. One day we will be reborn. Maybe then, husband and wife. Please don't forget me. I will always love you."

  Her hand went limp. Alesten was gone.

  "Why!?" Mizi screamed at the sky, his heart shattering. "Why does the person I love always die? Is my kindness not enough? Am I cursed to be unlucky forever? Answer me, God!"

  High above, the clouds shifted into a silent message in Arabic:

  "Indeed we belong to Allah, and indeed to Him we will return."

  Mizi didn't understand the words, but he felt a pull, deep and certain, like something recognising something. On a nearby cherry blossom tree, a magenta fire flickered, a rift torn open in the shape of a flame. Before the Empress could stop him, Mizi walked toward it. He looked back one last time, a silent goodbye that carried everything he couldn't say, and stepped into the flame. His body crumbled, his soul stripped bare, leaving only the essence of who he was.

  The City of Habas

  In the physical world, the Great War raged. The Kingdom of Naki fell to ruin.

  As the old world died, a Golden Dragon, a spirit of Causal from the Dream Realm, flew across the continents. It sought a vessel, a soul that had learned the price of kindness and the strength of sacrifice.

  In the city of Habas, a baby let out its first cry. The Golden Dragon descended, invisible to all, and merged with the infant. For a brief second, a golden shadow flickered on the baby's forehead.

  The mother smiled, exhausted but happy. "He will have good luck," she whispered.

  The father leaned in, looking at his newborn son. "We shall call him Hamizi."

  The cycle had begun again.